Thursday, November 24, 2011

Now that the plates are put away, I don't mind bring out the Christmas ornament post. Before I got started with my move I started making Christmas
ornaments. My tree is coming out of my new yard, and I wanted
everything to be kind of rustic to match. I'm also on a crazy tight
budget, and ornaments just aren't a priority. My mom gave be a box of
the standard ball ornaments, and I'm covering them with twine &
pages out of an old French novel from a high school French class. (I
hate the idea of defacing a book, but the plot left something to be
desired even if it were in English.) The only thing I had to buy was the Modge Podge to hold everything together.

I'm about halfway
done, and here's what I've got so far. My pictures from my iPhone
aren't so hot, but they really have turned out well! The trick with the paper is cut it into rectangles so it lays flat.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

"Our meats come from animals raised on local farms. Every meat we make is freshly processed and made only in small batches.

Pork is a tradition in the South, and we are bringing it back home.
For better health, For better flavor. For a stronger local food
community. For the love of place. For the love of pig."

How can you not get excited when you read that on the Link 41 website. I am a little hippie at heart, and one of my favorite things about moving back to Chattanooga has been the Harvested Here and farm to table movements. Many of restaurants use local food vendors, and I feel like the farmers markets have a little coalition going, and are working together to promote all of the weekend markets.

I've seen Link 41 at the Brainerd Farmers Market, and follow them on twitter, but for some reason I hadn't picked up any pig. I know they take a lot of pride in what they do, and it must pay off because they won the Chattanooga Farmers Market Chili Cook-off this past weekend! Let's just say I was waiting for the right moment to give them a try. I got really excited last week when I saw this tweet:

Ummmm....Yes Please. I was running errands Saturday, dropped of my turkey, and yes, I picked up some bacon. Side note: I'm also a technology nut, and I loved that they checked me out with a credit card reader attached to a cell phone, and texted me the receipt. This makes so much sense for a small business that travels.

I was making mini quiches for my painting party on Sunday, and they helped me pick out some shoulder bacon. I never knew there were so many choices when it came to bacon. Of course they led me to the right choice, and it was AMAZING. It was cut nice & thick, and I even made my mom smell it before it was cooked it was so good. I lined my muffin tins with bacon, baked it at 350 to get the bacon started, then poured the quiche mixture over it so it turned out like a bacon cup. You can never go wrong with a bacon cup btw. The bacon was perfect. It wasn't tough or greasy or too salty. Yuo were able to bite into it and it almost melted in your mouth.

They also do custom sausages in 5 pound (or more) batches. Ohh the possibilities.

Monday, November 21, 2011

I have a confession, I'm still a horrible blogger. I've been doing a lot of work on my new house, but I have no pictures to show you. Oops, use your imagination this time, and I'll try and have some pictures for you soon.

With my confession out of the way, let me first tell you what a difference it has made having two extra weeks to move! I'm not stressed, and so many more people have offered to help now that I'm not trying to do everything around Thanksgiving. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the help, and what a difference it has made : )

I took last Wednesday off work, and my mom was able to help me finalize my paint colors, and get started on my bedroom. I chose pretty basic colors, but I'm happy with how it's turning out. We also decided that all of the trim needed to be painted as well as the walls in all the rooms. Again, I'm VERY happy to have the extra time. We got the walls in my bedroom finished on Wednesday, and the trim finished up Sunday morning. My bedroom is done!

We also made crazy progress on the living room and kitchen this weekend too, especially since we spent 1/2 a day Saturday running errands & I had a date with the girls Sat. night to go see Twilight. The walls were in pretty bad shape in the kitchen, and part of the living room is plaster, so the prep took a lot longer than in the bedroom. It was worth it though. We spent most of Saturday spackling, sanding, cleaning & taping, but it looks so much better with new paint on the walls. We painted on Sunday until we ran out of paint, and got 1 coat on the living room, a coat on the kitchen, an a second coat on 2/3 kitchen. I went to get more paint Sunday afternoon, but my Ace hardware was out of the Benjamin Moore base. They won't get more until Wednesday, and that's fine by me, I was tired and I still have a lot of packing to do!

My goal for this week is to get packed, and get everything moved into my
kitchen cabinets by the time the kitchen paint comes in. I'd also like
to get as much of the painting finished before Friday as I can, so when
I have help next weekend, we can work on actually moving me, and
cleaning up the yard. I tend to have lofty goals, so we'll see!

Friday, November 18, 2011

The downside to having 15 wonderful windows in a 2 bedroom house is that I have 15 mini blinds that probably haven't been cleaned in the 10 years since the remodel. They're dusty and starting to yellow. I wasn't sure the best way to clean them so here's what I've done: I soaked them in the bathtub in a mixture of hot water, dish soap, & oxyclean for 20 minutes, then brushed over both sides, rinsed & hung them up to dry on my shower curtain rod.(I just wrapped the chord around the hardware & the rod in 2 places and it worked well) I did the first two last night, so I'll see what they look like when I go back tonight. If they're still yellow, I'll switch to bleach. If you have any ideas on how to clean mini blinds, let me know! **

Since I got my keys 2 weeks early, I took Wednesday off of work to get started on the house. With my mom's help, I got a lot done! I've picked out paint for the entire house. Everything is getting repainted except for the ceilings, and the trim in the living room. We even got 2 coats on the master bedroom. We'll do the trim this weekend, and then we'll be done with my bedroom! As soon as we're finished I'll have before and after pictures to post.

I'm having a 'painting party' this weekend, and I'm hoping to get the walls in the living room and kitchen done, and maybe even the trim. The living room is not going to be too bad, but the kitchen walls need a lot of work before we can paint. The work will be worth it though. I really can't wait to move in!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

The house is ready!!! The previous tenant moved out early! They did the final walk though today, and I get keys tomorrow!! I'm soooo excited. I spent this weekend making Christmas ornaments and packing, and it's a good thing I got started :)

I get my keys tomorrow afternoon, and I'll do a walk through to decide what needs to be painted, and when I can can start moving my stuff in. I'm still going to plan on my big work weekend being Thanksgiving weekend, but it will be nice to get some of the little stuff out of the way, and not be rushed. YAY!

If you haven't been keeping up with my plans for my move, keep scrolling down, or check out the 'my house' posts by clicking the tag below. :)

When I started posting about my move into my great grandmother's house this Thanksgiving, I thought it was going to be just 3 posts. Well this is post number 5, and I haven't even gotten to the fun part - the yard. Oops. These posts are great for keeping me organized, and I hope you're enjoying reading them. The weekend after Thanksgiving is going to be a busy one!

On to the next room, the guest bedroom. This is going to be pretty easy since I'm not worried about 'finishing' it. It just needs to be cleaned and painted, and will remain empty. The first family that lived here after Grandmother Grace died had a son while they were renting, and this room is cotton candy blue. Great for a baby boy, not so much for me.

This room has 3 walls of with large windows. I'm not going to fight the natural light, so I'm going to keep the room a bright neutral, color. I've got 3 paint strips that have the brown from the living room bead board, the yellows I want in my kitchen, and some light neutrals to tie the two together. I'll pick something from the light end of the spectrum for this room.

As far as decorating goes, since I don't have furniture for this room yet, I'm just going to put up some things that I like. I'll bring in my old Beatles poster, and my grandmother has some old sheet music with fun covers. I have 10 document frames that currently have vintage liquor ads (taken from a calendar and placed on watercolor paper for a faux matte) and I can take those out, replace them with the sheet music, and I think it will look pretty cool.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Writing all of these posts has made my move a little more daunting than I'm used to. This is my 3rd move of 2011. I'm a pro at it. I can bring in my stuff and get it set up in no time. But this is my first move into a house that is not an apartment, and also entirely mine. Any other house I've lived in has come with roommates and their furniture already set up. This move is not just bringing in my stuff, it's working on the house too. I've never had to paint when I've moved, and I really don't know how much time that's actually going to take. Luckily my bedroom is a room that I can set up in my sleep, because it's one of two rooms I haven't actually been in. (The other being the bathroom)

Bedroom Projects:

Dresser - I'd like to paint my dresser black. I can do this in the gravel driveway and not worry about being messy. It will need to be sanded, primed and painted. I'd like to get new drawer pulls for it eventually, but that probably won't happen the first weekend.

Curtains - I need at least 2 more panels to fill all of the windows. Not a huge priority since one of the windows doesn't get much sun, and there are blinds in place. I'll also need curtain rods; I'm going to use what I've got in the kitchen.

Painting - I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have to paint this room. That would take a huge chunk of time that I'd rather spend in the yard. If I paint it will be a grey to neutral shade, something most people would consider light, but I consider medium.

Storage - I don't know what kind of closet space I've got and crossing my fingers it's not going to be a problem. There's always the spare bedroom :)

Art - I've got 90% of the art for this room, but I'd like to get one of my skymaps framed and hung in here at some point.

Hallway Projects:

It needs to be painted.(Benjamin Moore # HC-29 or HC-30) Right now it feels like a tunnel and the walls are skint up and gouged in spots. This is an easy fix.

Art - The only idea I have is vintage Chattanooga postcards I've seen on Etsy. I'm going to treat this like the living room and just decorate for Christmas and deal with it after the new year. :)

This is one of two rooms where I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. I've been told it's small and has a shower/tub combo, possibly peeling wallpaper...but that's it. Not a lot to go on. It's the only bathroom in the house, so there's no saving this until last, because anyone who comes to my house is going to see it.

My bathroom right now is pretty boring, but I really like my shower curtain (the brown tree silhouette at the end of this post), and I've got nice microfiber brown towels to match. Since I've got some black hooks, I'm hoping I can use both blacks & browns without making it claustrophobic. I think it's really small, but I like blacks and browns together. I also like this picture, and I'm thinking about dying the background of my shower curtain a dusty rose color to match. My hesitation is that I'm not a huge fan of pink. If the shower curtain is the only thing this color, it could be pretty though. Decisions are so hard to make when you've never been IN the room.

Potential Projects for the Bathroom:

Wallpaper Removal: If there's wallpaper, I'm 95% sure it will have to go. This is not going to be fun in a cramped space. On the upside, if it's as tiny as I think it is, maybe it won't take too long. I'll need mom's wallpaper scorer & wide putty knife, and probably some sort of solvent.

Painting: I'm going to have to come up with a color scheme. Maybe something two toned, charcoal grey & light brown. I've also painted a frame around a shower before, and that might be a good idea. I REALLY need some help in this area, and I have a friend in mind that just might find herself at the paint store with me this weekend. One thing I have found helpful is the Design Seeds blog. (that's where the great color palettes are from) All it is are pretty pictures, with colors pulled out for you. You would think that as an artist I would be good with color, but I really struggle. Maybe it's because I'm a picky perfectionist, but I can get really lost getting colors to match.

Makeup Storage: I really like the idea of putting magnets on the back of makeup, sticking them on a framed piece of metal. You can paint the metal or put paper on it, to make it your style. I've posted about this project before, and I've got a great frame picked out. My cousin is a painter, so I'm thinking about having her paint me something as a Christmas present.

Shower Curtain: The white background is probably going to be too stark, so I'd like to dye it. This is a maybe project, and something I can easily do on my own, so it may not be a priority.

Cleaning: The not so fun part of the move.

Furniture: Nothing I really need to bring, I just don't need to forget the toilet paper on day 1.

Friday, November 11, 2011

In two weeks I'll be in my new house!! I should get me keys after lunch Thanksgiving day, and while everybody is out shopping on Friday I will be having a work day. I won't know how much cleaning I'll have to do until I get to look, but there are a few things I already know about. So my mom doesn't freak out, here's my to do list for the living room:

The
fireplace: It has char marks on the facing, so I need to find some way to
clean that up without making a huge mess. I'm going to start with
Simple Green, a scrub brush, and a bunch of old towels, but will probably be ready with a backup
plan if that doesn't get it. If you have any suggestions please let me
know.

Curtains - I'm completely at a loss on what to do here. I'm thinking about brown or navy, but I'm probably going to leave that decision until January. So to get started I'll get brown curtain rods for 1 double and 1 single window, and 2 drop cloths to make curtains out of.

Lantern Light Fixture: I think I remember a really dated light fixture in the living room. I hope that it can be repainted and doesn't have to be changed.

Carpet - May have to be steam cleaned. This would be a good Saturday project after any painting is done, before furniture is moved in, and while we're more focused on the outside.

Ottoman - I'm not going to get my leather tufted ottoman, but I am going to make a placeholder. I saw this palate ottoman, and I think I can handle it. I just need a sander, legs, and stain. I'll wait to do the cushion til the 2nd weekend, or maybe wait until January.

Furniture: Need to get the couch from a friend in Riverview, a table from grandmother, my 2 side tables, and decide about chairs & papas-an chair. May be able to get couch on Saturday, but I'll wait to move the rest until Sunday.

Shopping list:

2 brown curtain rods

2, 9'x12' drop cloths

sandpaper for orbital sander

4 table legs

1 can stain

1 can spray primer for metal

1 can spray paint for metal

Just as a bonus, here are some of the color pallets I'm thinking about for the living room...eventually. For now I'm just decorating for Christmas!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

I cannot believe I'm moving in 2 weeks. This is the point where I go over my plans, and really start getting ready. I've got a couple of projects planned for my new place, and this weekend I'm going to be getting my materials lists together, and doing whatever prep work I can do. I've got 3 areas I'm focusing on, so to make it easy I'm going to break this into 3 posts. As excited as I am to share everything I'm doing with you, this is for my mom as much as it is for everyone else. She tends to get overwhelmed, and likes to know I have a plan, and what the light at the end of the tunnel looks like, so this should help her sleep as we get closer and closer to move day!

Pot Rack - The kitchen and dining room are open and not all that large. There's not a lot of cabinet space, so I think I'm going to add a yellow painted pegboard to one wall to hang my pots and pans. I need to beg my parents for scrap from my dad's woodshop, and go ahead and get some hooks.

Stained Glass - My grandmother has two great framed stained glass windows in her basement, and I'm going to hand them in the 2 double windows in the dining room. This should be easy, all I need are 8 screw in hooks and a length of chain that can be cut into 4 equal lengths.

Painting - I'm not sure if I'm going to need to paint in here or not. I won't know until I get in Thanksgiving night, but I've got a paint color picked out just in case.

Curtains - I'm not going to be able to put in my dream curtains this month, but I am going to do a placeholder. I'm going to use my black curtain rods from my bedroom, and make curtains from drop cloths. I might even dye them the color I was thinking about, so I can see if it becomes too much yellow. I need 2, 9'x12' drop cloths for the kitchen windows ($25 ea, Lowes) and Rose Pink & Lemon Yellow RIT dye (Yellow 2, color #61) If I'm really good I can have the curtains dyed before I move in. I may need to borrow my sisters galvanized tub.

Furniture - I'm bringing in my bistro table & directors chairs the first day. The bakers rack & sette chair as soon as the walls are done, and the sideboard on Sunday when I have helpers.

This is what I want to do, but yellow

Shopping List:

Peg hooks (12-24)

Benjamin Moore Pineapple Grove paint (#333)

8 screw in hooks

Chain (length to be determined, 8 feet max)

2, 9x12 drop cloths

Rose Pink & Lemon Yellow RIT dye

**Note: the pictures are from worldmarket.com I LOVE world market, and this series of bake ware & stoneware is exactly what I was looking for color wise. The walls and such will be white-ish, and I'm just looking for a few pieces to be these colors. I'm aiming for bright, but not in your face. :)

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Ahhh, the Internet. I'd been excited about this part of my move for a while, until Dad through a wrench in my plans. He reminded me that the utilities from the road to the house are underground. Meaning any additional lines - ie fiber for my internet - would have to be underground too. EPB is giving free installation to customers who keep the service for a year, but he didn't think that running the underground lines would be covered.

WRONG! I called and spoke with EPB, and if the existing utilities are underground, then they will run the new lines underground at no additional fee. **Does a happy dance** This news seriously made my day.

More on EPB Fiber: When Greenville was vying for
Google Fiber, I wondered why Chattanooga wasn't getting in on project.
Turns out it was because Chattanooga already had a Gig, fiber to the home - in a 600 square mile coverage area. Since my apartment building is older, it hasn't been wired for fiber,
and this will be my first chance to connect. I won't be needing the
1GB/s upload and download capability, but it will be nice to have
reliable fiber, and NO MORE COMCAST! (Side note: my grandparents literally went from AOL dial-up, to satellite, to fiber internet in the past 2 years...it's a crazy difference)

Housekeeping: I'm going to be posting a lot more frequently for the next few weeks as I'm getting ready for my move. I've got a lot of planning to do, and this way my mom & the other people I've recruited to help know a little more about what they're getting into, and maybe I won't forget anything major. (It's not going to be that bad though, I promise!) So I'm not spamming anyone who's not too terribly interested in my home do it yourself projects, I'm not going to be posting links on facebook. I'll still post links on twitter, but if if you rely on my facebook posts, and want to keep up with my progress, add a bookmark or subscribe to my feed.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

So I have a bit of a problem moving into the my great grandmother's awesome house that I told you about last week....I have no idea what to do with the living room. I've almost always had roommates with living room furniture, so I don't really have a style of my own, or know what fits the house.

A few months ago, the current tenant was out of town, and I went with my grandmother to walk around the property. While we were there, the tenant's son-in-law stopped by and gave us a tour of the house. I hadn't been in the house since the 2001 renovation was complete, so I was thrilled to get inside. It was nice of him to show us around, & nice to see exactly what needs painting or updating, and how much stuff the house can hold - and it was full. As in, couldn't see the chair-rail in the living room, boarder-line hoarder, full. That was more than a little overwhelming.

My solution...decorate for Christmas. Rather than stressing about putting together my perfect living room when I first move in, I'm going to decorate for Christmas and save the rest for after the first of the year. Kinda of a cop out, but since I don't really know exactly how much space I'm working with, that's the plan. :)

My first project to get ready for my move are Christmas Tree Ornaments. I'm going to keep things rustic and simple for my tree, and do handmade (ie cheap/budget friendly) ornaments. These are some of the ideas I am going to try and get made before I move:

Twine wrapped around a ball

Newspaper strips and glitter modge-podge

'Glass Globs' hot glued to a plain ornament

Ivory with burlap & glass diamonds

It's a simple color palate: black, ivory, clear, and brown. Add some white lights, and maybe some burlap garland, and regardless of what the rest of the room looks like, at least my tree will be pretty!!

Monday, November 7, 2011

I was looking for something to post today, and ran across this over on Bowling Adventures. (My friend's sister's blog) Since 'blog parties' are all the rage, I thought I'd chime in. I'm relatively new to the blogging community, so this is my way of getting involved. It's simple, a few short questions, a few short answers, and a link back to the rest of the links. A quick post for me, and a chance for you to get to know me better.

1. Are you excited for the holidays or are you dreading them? Love the holidays! Can't wait to decorate in my new house!!2. Do you hit the snooze button or get right up? Snooze. At least twice. I am not a morning person.3. Do you still have your tonsils?Yup, and my wisdom teeth.4. What was the last piece of candy that you ate? I definitely snuck a bite size Milky Way house sitting this weekend.5. Do you shop at thrift stores? Absolutely. I don't discriminate when it comes to sales.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Ornaments I will have for sale at the Memorial Hospital Fair this weekend

Every year I make and sell Christmas ornaments. Instead of doing all glass ornaments this year, I'm making old fashioned fabric ornaments, and glass 'accent' ornaments. The accent ornaments are 1" diamonds. The idea is to have coordinated accents that sparkle & fill in the blank spots, but are nice enough to stand alone. My favorites are the white and mirrored glass. The glass ornaments are 10 for $25, and the fabric ornaments are $7.50 each or 3 for $20. I am officially taking orders now, so if you want something special, just let me know (comment, e-mail, tweet, etc) and we can match your colors. Everything I do is completely custom. I'll be posting more pictures in this Facebook album, so check back there if you want to see more.

Memorial Hospital is hosting a fair this weekend, and the ornaments above are some of my ornaments that a co-worker is taking to sell. She also has a permanent booth at "The Crazy Daisy" in East Ridge if you'd like to see my work there.

I know I'm not decorating for Christmas yet (that comes when I move!!) but I know a lot of people are starting to think about it, so I thought I'd go ahead and let you know what I'm doing this year!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

I've made a few vague references to the fact that I have one more move coming up in 2011 - bringing the total to 3 moves. Since my move is now less than a month away I thought it is about time to let everybody know what I'm so excited about.

I'm moving into my great grandmother's cottage house :)

It's a simple 2 bedroom 1 bath house, with a living room, kitchen, & dining area. It has a great covered front porch, and a barn style detached garage/storage building. It's not huge, but it's exactly what I need.

The house sits on the largest natural pond in Hamilton County, which even shows up with its name, on Google maps. The pond is at least an acre, and my best guess from tax maps is house and land is about 8 acres. I love being near water, and this pond is gorgeous. If I edit this post, it will be when I can scan a picture of the pond and put it here.

When the house was built nearly a hundred years ago, it was a 2 room fishing cottage for my great grandfather. If I have the story correct, my great Grandmother Grace, moved the family to this house when my great grandfather died around the Great Depression. Over the years the house was added on to several times, and essentially rebuilt after it fell into disrepair in the years after Grandmother Grace died. This is great news for me since all of the wiring is 10 years old, and not 50. Here's a little history on the house & updates:

Upgrades from original house before 2001: running water, well then city water & septic tank, central heat & air, double ovens.

2001 renovation: new tin roof & insulation, new wiring, new windows, shower
added to bathroom, new carpet, new vinyl flooring in the kitchen, new washer
& dryer, new heat & ac units.

I'd say its come a long way! The only modern appliance I won't have is a dishwasher. When I move in this Thanksgiving there's a good amount of TLC that needs to be done to the yard, the house, and the exterior, but I'm up for a challenge.

I wrote a post a while back about what I was looking for in a house and why. Here's how Grandmother Grace's house stands up:

Laundry Chute -Nope, this is a 1 story house, no room for a laundry chute

Built-Ins -YES! There are built ins in the living room next to the fireplace

A
fireplace -YES! The downside is that it doesn't draw well. I'll probably convert it to gas next year.

A Studio Space -YES! The detached garage is 2 story, so my glass shop will go there :)

A Garden - YES! Probably more than I can handle.

Water -YES! Love the pond :)

Grill
& Patio -Eventually. There is an area off the kitchen and 2nd bedroom that will
be a great patio space. But that's going to take some time.

A bathtub - Kinda, there's a shower/bath combo. If I buy this house, then there will be another addition with a new bathroom.

Things
that have history/stories - YES! Doesn't get more historical and personal than family.

Dark
woods - YES! The living room has great wood all around the fireplace, and dark bead-board up to chair rail height.

You can see why I'm so excited. It's been so hard not to post about this, but until the current tenant was notified that her lease was not going to be renewed and all of those details were settled, I didn't want to jinx myself! The fun part now is the planning. Picking out curtains, looking at
auctions for furniture, and scouring the internet for plants. I'm
really excited and can't wait. I don't even mind the packing. The plan involves friends and wine, so even the packing should be fun!

I was able to take a look around the property a few months ago and snap some pictures. Here are the 'before' pictures. The first of many more pictures to come.

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About Me

I like to think of myself as a thinker and a doer. My academic training is in Mechanical Engineering, but my life's experience/work is a lot more varied. To best sum it up I'd say I'm an artist & an analyst who enjoys good food, good friends, and playing in the dirt.

A note

I'm not a very good blogger. I'm inconsistent at best. I've tried twice & failed. Third time worked for a while. I make no promises.

I tend to be a little all over the place, but I've blogged most consistently about my yard (garden is not quite the right word for this much wooded space), and living in my Great Grandmother's Cottage house. I'm love being back in Chattanooga, so I'm apt to recap my adventures her too.

Let me know you've stopped by! Leave a comment or check the box at the end of the post to tell me what you think. Sometimes we all need a swift kick for motivation. Thanks for visiting my random, ever evolving, blog :)